FBI sweep targets Boyle Heights’ Big Hazard gang

BOYLE HEIGHTS — Federal authorities today began arresting members of the Big Hazard Gang that officials say is connected to the Mexican Mafia and engaged in a wide range of criminal activity, including illegal drug and weapons sales as well as robberies and hate crimes.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office released an indictment today against 38 members of the gang, which has used the Ramona Gardens public housing project as a base of operations, according to the indictment, a copy of which was posted online by the L.A. Times.

Big Hazard, named after a nearby park, has been around since the 1940s and now includes about 350 members, who collected “taxes” generated by the criminal activities of other gangs in the area . The gang has controlled its territory “through threats, intimidation, hate crimes and acts of violence committed against local residents and rival gangs,” according to the indictment.

Weapons seized today and throughout investigation by investigators in the task force from today’s Big Hazard Takedown pic.twitter.com/2dfNkn0Y72

Would you like to examine the spike in prison population in that time? How about the shift in geographical epicenters of violent crime? The Highland Park gangs didn’t just fold up and call it a day after the injunctions; they moved to the desert.

so happy. i know there’s some shit going down with police right now but i support the LAPD. Especially Hollenbeck, Rampart and Northeast. They are making a different. Remember to report gang tagging on your mobile 311 app. That really helps. Let’s clean LA up. If they get arrested soon maybe their kids won’t grow up wanting to be gangsters.

I reported graffiti to 311 and was really impressed with the level of professionalism and quick turn around time.. I also have very thin walls and could hear the whole conversation of the guys as they repainted. They were discussing what to buy their mothers for Christmas. It was really a great exerience!

is the main gang clique in HP still he Avenues? I know it is where I live on the border of Atwater and Glassell. But it seems like all the muscle is gone. I just see teen pee wees tagging but no murder in GP in the last 6 months!

@mcnasty thanks for that, yeah i followed that big raid. however i still see cholos on drew street huddled up. are they only allowed to avoid the injunction because they have no gang tatts and/or criminal record. because it’s pretty obvious they are gang members. I’m not profiling. but the “13” raiders jerseys and high white sock are a giveaway… as are the cars that pull up to them every 15 minutes to buy meth. i call the LAPD but they always just drive by and never get out.

LAPD’s hands are tied by the same injunction that groups like S.T.A.Y. smear as racist. The gang injunction has always been a narrow tool that makes officers jump through a lot of hoops to use it – a far cry from the shrill anti-injunction voices who said it would be used just to harass any brown kids.

The community has to work with the LAPD to use the gang injunction to its fullest potential – spotting these gang losers, reporting crimes, getting them on record so the injunction can then be used.

@ Angeleno. You obviously don’t know how the law works. Thanks Jonathan for educating this person about STAY. They drive by and probably note who they are and hopefully compile to gang units. Often times they have runners who hold the drugs so it would do no good to bust them and have them have no drugs on them…. I just call it as I see it.

YAY just in time to clean it up for the whites to gentrify and take over!!! Its ridiculous that they clean up the place as the whites want to move into the area. Did the same thing in Silverlke and echo park and they are destroyed and void of culture and all the places that existed. To take decades of culture and throw it away for a bunch of dog walking starbucks drinking yoga mat carrying people is just sad. I dint support what the gangs do, but between the fore mentioned and gangs… sadly gangs win!!!

Again, insane that they don’t bother to do anything for decades but now that the whites want to move in its time to clean it up. Then they can move in a bithc about the residual helicopters and etc….

QUICK who’s the first to open a yoga studio? A coffee shop? Vegan cheese? Kicks store? Good bye all that has been in Boyke heights!

Racism isn’t acceptable towards anyone. Why can’t “Latinos” who make a good wage gentrify as well by wanting coffee before they go to their jobs in downtown? Why can’t “whites” move in without degradation of the area’s character? What about interracial couples looking to start a home? I think you’re confusing gentrification with racism. That is not the case. This should be about wanting less violent activities, and a safer neighborhood – not wanting the gangs to win over someone of another color.

Javi prefers drug-running murderers over coffee shops. That tells you all you need to know about Javi. He’s a lost cause. As the neighborhood gets nicer, Latinos that want to be part of a civil society will greatly benefit, while losers like Javi will be pushed out. That’s what he fears.

@ Javi you are ignorant. You choose gang violence over pretentious hipsters… In all honesty the cops care because the “gentrifiers” (who are not all white… they just have means) actually take time to call LAPD non emergency, report tagging, etc…

Gentrification is not a bad work. The ethnic diversity that comes with good economical conditions , benefits the
majority of the people that live, work, or own property in those areas. Change is good. The history of any given area must change to promote and foster a better quality of life for those who have invested in it. We are a melting pot of cultures, that is the backbone of all that is good in America. Physical boarders should not dictate what one wants or needs from life. Invest, give back and grow.

Most of you are missing Javy’s point. I take it most of you are not from the area. You push your educated jargon around like you have lived what we have lived in these streets we so proudly call home. Javy’s point of view comes from the reality that improvement in Boyle Heights is slow and sometimes nonexistent. The last few years have been a bit different thought with arrival of the hipster on the west side. Gentrification. Culture shock. Crime. Inadequate parenting. You could go on and on with the 1k dollar terms and theories. Truth is Javy’s attitide is common amongst those who love BH. He does not think outside of the box because he probably is one of the few that represents this community well.

I say this to you brother because I have earned my right to say this, given that I have spent a life time representing this community well. Progress is progress. The inclusion of all who endure the tragedies of our town into this bottled emotion we call pride must not be our final outlook. Every time a kid tags his moniker into the surface of our walls, he taints everything our community stands for. Think of the thugs that infect our generations with smack, retarding any opportunity to flourish. I think we gave our people the opportunity to improve and the truth is that they opt to remain stagnant for the sake of exploiting what they yet have to appreciate. I say if progress comes at the sight of blue, green, or white faces, then let progress take its course in Boyle Heights. People are resistant to change because they are not accountable to their own people. A proud individual is a conscientious citizen. The deplorable conditions our people in Boyle Heights have come to accept is not culture. Culture persists even when the people representing it fail to uphold its significance. This is so because I progressed.

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